The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany

The characteristic Persian images and rhetorical figures, familiar to us from Platen, are also found here in still greater variety and number. Thus to mention some new ones, the soul is likened to a bird (p. 270, No. 29, cf. H. 427. 5: مرغ روحم); the cypress is invoked to come to the brook (p. 336, cf. H. 108. 3: که سرو سهی را مقام بر لب جوست "the place of the straight cypress is on the bank of the brook"); the rose-bush glows with the fire of Moses ("Gnosis," p. 350, cf. H. 517. 2: آتش موسی نمود گل "the rose displays the fire of Mūsā"); Hafis is an idol-worshipper (p. 305, "Liebesandacht," cf. H. 439. 6, where بت شيرين حرکات "the idol of sweet motions" is addressed). We meet also the striking Oriental conception of the dust of the dead being converted into cups and pitchers. In "Von irdischer Herrlichkeit" (p. 257) the character "der alte Wirth" is the pīr of H. 4. 10 et passim, and when speaking of the fate of Jamšīd, Sulaīmān and Kāʻus Kaī, he says:

This very striking thought, as is well known, is extremely common in Persian poetry. To cite from Hāfiḍ (H. 459. 4):

Some of the poems are versions, more or less free, of Hāfiḍ—passages, e.g. "Die verloren gegangene Schöne" (p. 290, H. 268), "An die Schöne" (p. 308, H. 160, couplets 2 and 5 being omitted), "Beschwichtigter Zweifel" (p. 310, H. 430. 6), "Das harte Wort" (p. 350, H. 77. 1 and 2). Sometimes a theme is taken from Hāfiḍ and then expanded, as in "Die Busse" (p. 346), where the first verse is a version of H. 384. 1, the rest being original.

Of course, reminiscences of Hāfiḍ are bound to be frequent. We shall point out only a few instances. "Nicht solltest du so, O Rose, versäumen die Nachtigall" ("Stimme der Sehnsucht," p. 256) is inspired by a verse like H. 292. 2:

In "Zum neuen Jahr" (p. 260) the last lines:

are a parallel to H. 10. 6:

The opening lines of "Schmuck der Welt" (p. 260):

are distinctly reminiscent of H. 8. 4:

Like Hāfiḍ (H. 358. 11; 518. 7 et passim) Rückert also boasts of his supremacy as a singer of love and wine ("Vom Lichte des Weines," p. 273). Finally in "Frag und Antwort" (p. 258) he employs the form of the dialogue, the lines beginning alternately Ich sprach, Sie sprach, just as Hāfiḍ does in Ode 136 or 194. The "Vierzeilen" (p. 361), while they have the rubāʻī-rhyme, are not versions. Only a few of them have an Oriental character. Completely unoriental are the "Briefe des Brahmanen" (p. 359), dealing with literary matters of contemporary interest.151

The Oriental studies which Rückert continued to pursue with unabated ardor were to him a fruitful source of poetic inspiration. They furnished the material for the great mass of narrative, descriptive and didactic poems which were collected under the titles Erbauliches und Beschauliches aus dem Morgenlande, and again Morgenländische Sagen und Geschichten, furthermore Brahmanische Erzählungen, and lastly Weisheit des Brahmanen. We shall discuss these collections in the order here given.

The first collection Erbauliches und Beschauliches (vol. vi.) consists of poems which were published between the years 1822 and 1837 in different periodicals. They appeared in collected form as a separate work in 1837.152 The material is drawn from Arabic and Persian sources, only one poem, "Die Schlange im Korbe," p. 80, being from the Sanskrit of Bhartṛhari (Nītiś. 85).153

With the Arabic sources, the Qurān, the chrestomathies of de Sacy and Kosegarten, and others, we are not here concerned. Among the Persian sources the one most frequently used is the Gulistān, from which are taken, to give but a few instances, "Sadi an den Fürstendiener," p. 57 (Gul. i. distich 3), "Mitgefühl," p. 52 (Gul. i. 10, Maθnavī), "Kein Mensch zu Haus," p. 52 (Gul. vii. 19, dist. 6, Platts, p. 139), "Gewahrter Anstand," p. 55 (Gul. iv. Maθ. 5, Platts, p. 96), as well as many of the proverbs and maxims, pp. 102-108. The poem "Die Kerze und die Flasche," p. 82, is a result of the poet's studies in connection with his translation of the Haft Qulzum, a fragment of Amīr Šāhī154 being combined with a passage cited from Asadī.155 "Eine Kriegsregel aus Mirchond," p. 73, is a paraphrase of a maθnavī from Mīrχvānd's Raūḍat-ussafā.156 In "Gottesdienst," p. 52, the first two lines are from Amīr Xusrau (Red. p. 229); the remaining lines were added by Rückert. The fables given on pp. 87-96 as from Jāmī are taken from the eighth chapter or "garden" of that poet's Bahāristān; they keep rather closely to the originals, only in "Die Rettung des Fuchses" the excessive naturalism of the Persian is toned down.157 One of these fables, however, "Falke und Nachtigall," p. 89, is not from Jāmī, but from the Maχsan-ul-asrār of Niḍāmī (بلبل با باز حکايت ed. Nathan. Bland, London, 1844, p. 114; translated by Hammer in Red. p. 107).

Some of the poems in this collection are actual translations from Persian literature. Thus "Ein Spruch des Hafis," p. 59, is a fine rendering of qiṭʻah 583 in the form of the original.158 Then a part of the introduction to Niḍāmī's Iskandar Nāmah is given on p. 65. The translation begins at the fortieth couplet:159

This is well rendered:

As will be noticed, Rückert here has not attempted to reproduce the mutaqārib, as Platen has done in his version of the first eight couplets (see p. 36).

Some of the translations in this collection were not made directly from the Persian, but from the versions of Hammer. Thus "Naturbetrachtung eines persischen Dichters," p. 62, is a free rendering of Hammer's version of the invocation prefixed to Aṭṭār's Mantiq-uṭ ṭair (Red. p. 141 seq.) and Rückert breaks off at the same point as Hammer.160 So also the extract from the Iyār-i-Dāniṣ̌ of Abū'l Faḍl (p. 68) is a paraphrase of the version in Red. p. 397.

A number of poems deal with legends concerning Rūmī, or with sayings attributed to him. Thus the legend which tells how the poet, when a boy, was transported to heaven in a vision, as told by Aflākī in the Manāqibu'l ʻĀrifīn,161 forms the subject of a poem, p. 37. A saying of Rūmī concerning music prompted the composition of the poem, p. 54 (on which see Boxberger, op. cit. p. 241), and on p. 62 the great mystic is made to give a short statement of his peculiar Sūfistic doctrine of metempsychosis.162 In "Alexanders Vermächtnis," p. 61, we have the well-known legend of how the dying hero gives orders to leave one of his hands hanging out of the coffin to show the world that of all his possessions nothing accompanies him to the grave. In Niḍāmī's version, however, the hand is not left empty, but is filled with earth.163

Finally there are a few poems dealing with Oriental history, of which we may mention "Hormusan," p. 25, the subject being the same as in Platen's more famous ballad. It may be that both poets drew from the same source (see p. 37).

In the same year (1837) as the Erbauliches und Beschauliches there appeared the Morgenländische Sagen und Geschichten (vol. iv.) in seven books or divisions. In general, the contents of these divisions may be described as versified extracts from Oriental history of prevailingly legendary or anecdotal character. Their arrangement is mainly chronological. Only the fourth, fifth and seventh books call for discussion as having Persian material. The most important source is the great historical work Rauḍat us-safā of Mīrχvānd, portions of which had been edited and translated before 1837 by scholars like de Sacy,164 Wilken,165 Vullers166 and others.167

Other sources to be mentioned are d'Herbelot's Bibliothèque Orientale,168 de Sacy's version of the Tārīχ-i-Yamīnī169 and Hammer's Geschichte der schönen Redekünste Persiens.

The first poem of the fourth book goes back to the legendary period of Iran. Its hero is Guštāsp, the patron and protector of Zoroaster. Rückert calls him Kischtasp. He does not give the story directly according to Firdausī (tr. Mohl, iv. 224, 278-281) but makes his hero go to Tūrān, whence he returns at the head of a hostile army. At the boundary he is met, not by his brother Zarīr, but simply by messengers who offer him Iran's crown. This he accepts and thus becomes king and protector of the realm he was about to assail.170

Most of the other poems in this book deal with legends of the Sassanian dynasty. Thus "Schapurs Ball," p. 114 (Mém. pp. 282-285); "Die Wölfe und Schakale Nuschirwans," p. 115 (Mém. p. 381); "Die abgestellte Hungersnoth," p. 116 (Mém. pp. 345, 346); "Die Heerschau," p. 117 (Mém. p. 373). The two stories about Bahrām Čubīn, pp. 119-122, are also in Mém. p. 395 and pp. 396, 397 respectively.171 "Der Mann mit einem Arme," p. 124, is in Mém. pp. 348, 349. In the last poem "Yesdegerd," p. 126, Rückert gives the story of the sad end of the last Sassanian apparently according to different accounts, and not simply according to Firdausī or Mīrχvānd.

The sixth book opens with the story of Muntasir, p. 198, (from d'Herb. vol. iii. pp. 694, 695) and then we enter the period of the Saffārid dynasty. Its founder Yaʻqūb is the subject of a poem, p. 207 (d'Herb. iv. 459). "Zu streng und zu milde" and "Schutz und Undank," both p. 210, tell of the fortunes of Prince Qābūs (Wilken, Sam. p. 181 and pp. 79-81, 91, 198-200, n. 47). "Die aufgehobene Belagerung," p. 211, brings us to the Būyids (d'Herb. ii. pp. 639, 640). The story of Saidah and Mahmūd, p. 212, is from Wilken's Buj. c. xii. pp. 87-90, but the order of the events is changed. Then we come to the history of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in connection with which the story of Alp Tagīn is told in "Lokman's Wort," p. 214, according to the account of Haidar in Wilk. Gasnevid. p. 139, n. 1, preceded by an anecdote told of Luqmān (d'Herb. ii. 488). "Die Schafschur," p. 215, gives a saying of Sabuktagīn from the Tārīχ-i-Yamīnī (on the authority of ʻUtbī, de Sacy, Notices et Extr. iv. 365). In the story of Mahmūd's famous expedition to Sōmanatha, p. 215, Rückert has combined the meagre account of Mīrχvānd with that of Firišta for the story of the Brahman's offer and with that of Haidar for the sultan's reply (Wilk. Gasnevid. pp. 216, 217, n. 109). "Mahmud's Winterfeldzug," p. 216, is also from Wilken's book (pp. 166-168, n. 38); in fact Dilχak's reply is a rhymed translation of the passage in the note referred to. From the same source came also the poem on the two Dabšalīms, p. 219 (Wilken, Gasnevid. pp. 220-225). The familiar anecdote of the vizier interpreting to Mahmūd the conversation of the two owls is told in Niḍāmī's Maχsan-ul-asrār (ed. Bland, pp. 48-50), where, however, Anūširvān is the sultan. The title reads: داستان انوشروان عدل با وزير وجغد.172 "Abu Rihan" (i.e. Albīrūnī) is taken from d'Herb. I. 45 and iv. 697.

Then follow stories from the period of the Saljūks: "Des Sultan's Schlaf," p. 224 (Vullers, Gesch. der Seldsch. pp. 43, 44); "Nitham Elmulks Ehre," p. 228 (ibid. pp. 228-230); "Nitham Elmulks Fall," p. 229 (ib. pp. 123-125 and pp. 128-132); "Die unglückliche Stunde," p. 232 (ibid. pp. 153, 154). "Die unterthänigen Würfel," p. 227, is from the Haft Qulzum (Gram. u. Poet. der Perser, pp. 366, 367). The stories of Alp Arslan and Romanus, p. 225, and of Malakšāh's prayer, p. 228, are not given by Mīrχvānd, but occur in the works of Deguignes, Gibbon, Malcolm and d'Herbelot.173 The story of the death of Sultan Muhammad (in 1159 A.D.), p. 232, is in Deguignes, ii. 260, 261.

Then we get stories from the period of the Mongol invasion. "Die prophezeite Weltzerstörung," p. 237, the legend of Jingis Chān's birth, is in the Tārīχ-i-Yamīnī (Notices et Extr. iv. pp. 408, 409). The material for the poems concerning Muẖammad Xvārazm Šāh, p. 237, and his brave son Jalāl ud-dīn, pp. 240, 241, is found in the work of Deguignes (op. cit. ii. p. 274 and pp. 280-283). Finally we are carried even to India and listen to the story of the unhappy queen Raziyah, p. 255, who was murdered at Delhi by her own generals in 1239 A.D.174

A few anecdotes about Persian poets are also given. Thus "Dichterkampf," p 233, gives the amusing story of the literary contest between Anvarī and Rašīd, surnamed Vaṭvaṭ "the swallow" (Hammer, Red. p. 121; David Price, Chronological Retrospect, London, 1821, ii. 391, 392), and on p. 243 we are told how Kamāl ud-dīn curses his native city Ispahān and how the curse was fulfilled. (Hammer, Red. p. 159.)

The seventh book contains two of Rückert's best known parables, the famous "Es ging ein Mann im Syrerland," p. 303,175 and "Der Sultan lässt den Mewlana rufen," p. 305 (Red. p. 338).

It will be noticed that the Oriental poems which we have thus far discussed were mainly derived from Arabic and Persian sources. We may now turn our attention to a collection in which Rückert's studies on matters connected with India are also represented.

This collection Brahmanische Erzählungen, published in the year 1839 (vol. iii.), does not, however, as its title might lead us to suppose, consist exclusively of Indic material. Some of the poems are not even Oriental; "Annikas Freier," p. 217, for example, is from the Finnic. Of others, again, the subject-matter, whether originally Oriental or not, has long ago become the common property of the world's fable-literature, as, for instance, "Weisheit aus Vogelmund," p. 239, the story of which may be found in the Gesta Romanorum, and in French, English and German, as well as in Persian, fable-books.176 Some are from Arabic sources, as from the Thousand and One Nights, e.g. "Der schwanke Ankergrund," p. 357,177 "Elephant, Nashorn und Greif," p. 367,178 "Die Kokosnüsse," p. 359.179 The poem "Rechtsanschauung in Afrika," p. 221, is a Hebrew parable from the Talmud and had been already used by Herder.180

A considerable number of the poems contain nothing but Persian material. Thus "Wettkampf," p. 197, is from the Gulistān (i. 28; K.S. tr. p. 27); and from the same source we have "Rache für den Steinwurf," p. 219 (Gul. i. 22; K.S. 21), "Fluch und Segen," p. 234 (Gul. i. 1), and "Busurgimihr," p. 225 (Gul. i. 32; K.S. 31). "Die Bibliothek des Königs," p. 405, is from the Bahāristān (K.S., p. 31; Red. p. 338). Three episodes from the Iskandar Nāmah are narrated on pp. 214-217: the story of the invention of the mirror (Isk. tr. Clark, xxiii. p. 247), the battle between the two cocks (ibid., xxii. p. 234 seq.), and the message of Dara to Alexander with the latter's reply (ibid. xxiv. p. 263).181

On p. 329 Rückert offers a free, but faithful, even if abridged version of selected passages from the introductory chapters of Niḍāmī's work (Isk. tr. Clarke, canto ii, p. 18 seq. and canto vii, p. 53 seq.). In "Kiess der Reue," p. 421, he paraphrases the episode of Alexander's search for the fountain of life from the Shāh Nāmah (tr. Mohl, v. pp. 177, 178). The story of Bahrāmgūr in the same work (tr. Mohl, v, pp. 488-492) appears in "Allwo nicht Zugethan," p. 397. It is not taken from Firdausī, for it relates the story somewhat differently, and introduces a love-episode of which the epic knows nothing.182 Again, "Der in die Stadt verschlagene Kurde," p. 229, is an anecdote which Rückert had already translated in the Haft Qulzum (see his Poet. u. Rhet. der Perser, pp. 72-74), while "Glücksgüter," p. 233, may have been suggested by a story of Aṭṭār which he published afterwards (1860, ZDMG. vol. 14, p. 286). Some anecdotes of Persian princes or poets are also utilized, e.g. "Das Küchenfeldgeräthe des Fürsten Amer," p. 226 (d'Herb. iv. 459; Malcolm i. p. 155), "Der Spiegel des Königs," p. 223 (Deguignes, ii. 171), and the story of Jāmī and the mullā, p. 224 (M. Kuka, The Wit and Humour of the Persians, Bombay, 1894, pp. 165, 166). In one poem, "Ormuzd und Ahriman," p. 344, an Avestan subject is treated, the later Parsi doctrine of zrvan akarana.183

The great majority of the poems in this collection are concerned with India, its literature, mythology, religious customs, geography and history, and it will be convenient for our purpose to discuss them under these heads.

In the first group, that which takes its material from Sanskrit literature, we meet with the story of the flood, p. 298, from the Mahābhārata (Vana Parva, 187) and the story of Rāma's exploits and Sītā's love, p. 268, from the Rāmāyaṇa. Also a number of fables from the Hitōpadēśa or Pañcatantra occur, e.g. that of the greedy jackal, p. 249, familiar from Lafontaine (Hit. i. 6; Pañc. ii. 3), and that of the lion, the mouse and the cat, p. 250 (Hit. ii. 3). The story of the ungrateful man and the grateful animals, p. 252, is found in the Kathāsaritsāgara (tr. Tawney, ii. pp. 103-108; cf. Pālī version in Rasavāhinī, Wollheim, Die National-Lit. sämtlicher Völker des Orients, Berl. 1873, vol. i. p. 370). "Katerstolz und Fuchses Rath," p. 243, has for its prototype the fable of the mouse changed into a girl in Pañcatantra (iv. 9; cf. the story of the ambitious Caṇḍāla maid in Kathās. tr. Tawney, ii. p. 56). King Raghu's generosity to Varatantu's pupil Kāutsa, as narrated in the Raghuvaṃśa (ch. v.), is the subject of a poem on p. 402. Two famous pieces from the Upaniṣad-literature are also offered: the story of how Jājñavalkya overcame nine contestants in debate at King Janaka's court and won the prize consisting of one thousand cows with gold-tipped horns, p. 247, from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Up. iii. (see Deussen, Sechzig Upan. übers. Leipz. 1897, p. 428 seq.), and the story of Nacikētas' choice, p. 403, from the Kāṭhaka Upaniṣad. To this group belong also versions of Bhartṛhari, p. 337 (Nītiś. 15) and p. 338 (Nītiś. 67).

In the mythological group we have two poems telling of the history of Kṛśṇa, as given in the great Bhāgavata Purāṇa. The first one, "Die Weltliebessonne im Palast des Gottes Krischna," p. 246, gives the legend of the god's interview with the Sage Nārada (Bhāgav. Nirṇaya Sāg. Press, Bombay 1898, Lib. x. c. 69; tr. Dutt, Calcutta, 1895, pp. 298-302) with a close somewhat different from that of the Sanskrit original. The second one narrates the romance of the poor Brahman Sudāman, who pays a visit to the god and is enriched by the latter's generosity (Bhāgav. x. c. 80, 81; tr. Dutt, pp. 346-355. For the Hindostanee version in the Premsāgar, see Wollheim, op. cit. i. p. 421). In the Sanskrit the story is not so ideal as in Rückert's poem. The poor Brahman is urged on to the visit, not by affection for the playmate of his youth, but rather by the prosaic appeals of his wife; yet, though the motive be different, the result is the same. Besides these, we find the legend of Kāma, the Hindu Cupid, burned to ashes by Śiva's third eye for attempting to interrupt the god's penance, p. 266 (Rāmāy. i. c. 23, Kumāras. iii. v. 70 seq.), and Rückert manages to introduce and to explain all the epithets, Kāmadēva, kandarpa, smara, manmatha, hṛcchaya, ananga, which Sanskrit authors bestow upon their Cupid. We also have legends of the cause of the eclipses of sun and moon, p. 365, of the origin of caste, p. 347 (Manu i. 87), of the fabulous mountain Mēru in Jambudvīpa, p. 285, of the quarrelsome mountains Innekonda and Bugglekonda, p. 321 (Ritter Erdkunde, iv. 2, pp. 472, 473). The winding course of the Indus is explained by a typical Hindu saint-story, p. 335, similar to that told of the Yamunā and Rāma in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (tr. Wilson, ed. Dutt, Calc. 1894, p. 386).

Many of the poems describe religious customs practised in India. Of such customs the practice of asceticism in its different forms is one of the most striking and could not fail to engage the poet's attention. Thus the peculiar fast known as Cāndrāyaṇa, "moon-penance," is the subject of a poem, p. 278; so also "Titanische Bussandacht," p. 283, has for its theme the belief of the Hindus in the supernatural power conferred by excessive penance, as exemplified by the legend of Śakuntalā's birth. The practice of pañcatapas, "the five fires" (Manu, vi. 23. See Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, Lond. 1876, p. 105) is the subject of the poem "Des Büssers Läuterungswahn," p. 285. The selfish greed of the Brahmans (cf. Manu, vii. 133, 144; xi. 40) is referred to in two poems on p. 287. The supposed powers of cintāmani, the Hindu wishing-stone, suggested the poem on p. 275 (cf. Bhartṛhari, Vāir. 33). Of other poems of this sort we may mention "Die Gottverehrung des Stammes Karian," p. 322 (Ritter, Erdk. iv. 1. p. 187), "Vom Genuss der Früchte nach Dschainas Lehre," p. 307 (ibid. iv. p. 749), and "Die Schuhe im Tempel Madhuras," p. 301 (ibid. iv. 2. p. 4).

Again, many poems belong to the realm of physical and descriptive geography. Their source, in most cases, was undoubtedly the great geographical work of Ritter. To it may be referred the majority of the purely descriptive poems, e.g., "Das ewige Frühlingsland der Tudas," p. 301 (op. cit. iv. 1. 951), "Das Frühlingsland Kaschmir," p. 315 (ibid. ii. 1142 and 630), "Die Kokospalme," p. 304 (ibid. iv. 1. 834 seq., 838, 851, 852). The sun and moon lotuses, so famous through Heine's beautiful songs (see p. 58), are described on p. 343. Animal-life also comes in for its share, e.g. the ichneumon in "Instinctive Heilkunde der Tiere," p. 336.

Lastly, we come to the historical group, poems relating to the history of India. The poem on the burning of Keteus' wife, p. 382, is evidently inspired by the reading of Diodorus Siculus (xix. 33). On page 311 we have a poem celebrating the valor of the Rāja Pratap Singh, who held out so bravely against Akbar in the mountain fastnesses of Citor, 1567.184 The heroic queen-regent of Ahmadnagar, Chānd Bībī, and the romantic story of her struggle against Akbar, in 1596, is the subject of the poem on p. 353. Only the bright side is, however, presented; the tragic fate which overtook the unfortunate princess three years later is not referred to.185 The famous battle of Samūgarh, 1658, by which Aurangzīb gained the Mogul Empire, is narrated on p. 310, according to the account of Bernier.186 In this connection we may also mention "Das Mikroskop," p. 370, the familiar anecdote of the Brahman who refused to drink water, after the microscope had revealed to him the existence therein of countless animalcules (Ritter, Erdk. iv. 1. p. 749).

Besides the poems falling under the groups discussed above there are many of purely didactic or moralizing tendency, embodying general reflections. It would take us too far, were we to attempt to discuss them, even if their interest were sufficiently great to repay the trouble. We must, however, point out that even the Sanskrit vocabulary is impressed into service to furnish material for such poems. Thus the fact that the word pāda may mean either "foot," "step," or "ray of the moon or sun," is utilized for the last lines of "Vom Monde," p. 368. The meaning of the term bakravratin, "acting like a crane," applied to a hypocrite, is used for a poem on p. 363. Similarly the threefold signification of dvipa as "brahman," "bird," and "tooth" suggests "Zweigeboren," p. 423, and more instances might be adduced. It is not to be wondered at that such poetizing should often degenerate into the most inane trifling, so that we get such rhyming efforts as that on p. 326 with its pun on the similarity of hima "winter" with hēma "gold," Himālaya and himavat with Himmel and Heimat, or that on p. 385 with its childish juxtaposition of the Vedantic term māyā, the Greek name Μαια, and the German word Magie.

If the poems discussed in the preceding pages were found to be largely didactic and gnomic in character, the great collection called Die Weisheit des Brahmanen is entirely so. The poems composing this bulky work appeared in installments during the period 1836-1839, and, while many of them, as will be shown below, are the outcome of Rückert's Oriental studies, the majority simply embody general reflections on anything and everything that happened to engage the poet's attention. "Es muss alles hinein, was ich eben lese: vor acht Wochen Spinoza, vor vierzehn Tagen Astronomie, jetzt Grimms überschwenglich gehaltreiche Deutsche Mythologie, alles unter der nachlässig vorgehaltenen Brahmanenmaske...."187 These are the author's own words and render further detailed characterization of the work superfluous. It is well known that the sources for the great didactic collection, even for that part of it which is not composed of reflections on matters of contemporary history, politics and literature, or relating to questions of family and friendship, are more Occidental than Oriental.188 In fact, the Brahmanic character of the wisdom here expounded consists mainly in the contemplative spirit of reposeful didacticism which pervades the entire collection. Nor is there anything Oriental about the form of the poems,—the rhymed Alexandrine reigning supreme with wearisome monotony.

A detailed discussion of the Weisheit, therefore, even if it were possible within the limits of this dissertation, will not be attempted; the less so, as such a discussion, so far as the Oriental side, at least, is concerned, would be very much of the same nature as that given of the Brahmanische Erzählungen. A general Oriental influence, especially of the Bhagavadgītā-philosophy or of Rūmī's pantheism, is noticeable enough in many places,189 but particular instances of such influence are not hard to find. We shall adduce only a few, taken from the fifth division or Stufe, called Leben. Of these there are taken from the Hitōpadēśa Nos. 25 (Hit. i. couplet 179; tr. Hertel, 141), 26 (ib. i. 178; tr. Hertel, 140), 111 (ib. i. couplet 80; Wilkins' tr. p. 56). From the Gulistān are taken Nos. 290 (Gul. i. 13; K.S. dist. p. 42), 326 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. dist. p. 230), 366 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. p. 232). No. 60 was probably suggested by the fable of the ass and the camel in Jāmī's Bahāristān (tr. K.S. p. 179). No. 476 draws a moral from the fact that the Persian title mīrzā means either "scribe" or "prince," according to its position before or behind the person's name. In No. 201 we recognize a Persian proverb: بزک ممير که بهار میآيد يونجه ميخوری "little goat, do not die; spring is coming, you will eat clover." No. 364:

is also a Persian proverb and is absolutely unintelligible, unless one happens to know that the Persian word for "ostrich" is شترمرغ, literally "camel-bird."

Again, to cite from other Stufen, Firdausī's lines, already used by Goethe in his Divan (see p. 25 above), furnish the text for a moral poem, p. 487 (18). The Persian notion of the peacock being ashamed of his ugly feet (cf. Gul. ii. 8, qiṭʻah) is put to a similar use on p. 463 (162). Some poems are moralizingly descriptive of Indic customs, e.g., p. 157 (11), where reverence for the guru or "teacher" is inculcated (cf. Manu ii, 71, 228) and pp. 10, 11 (18, 19), where the conditions are set forth under which the Vēdas may be read (cf. Manu iv. 101-126, or Yājñ. i. 142-151). A comparison is instituted between the famous court of Vikramāditya and his seven gems, of which Kālidāsa was one, and that of Karl August of Weimar and his poetic circle, p. 148 (39).

Trivial and empty rhyming is of course abundant in such an uncritical mass of verse, and we also meet with insipid puns, like that on the Arabic word dīn, "religion," and the German word dienen, p. 498 (48).

These examples, we believe, will suffice for our purpose. With the philosophical part of the Weisheit we are not here concerned.

A great many Oriental poems are scattered throughout the collection which bears the title of Pantheon (vol. vii.). We may mention "Die gefallenen Engel," p. 286, the legend of Hārūt and Mārūt, "Wischnu auf der Schlange," p. 286, "Die nackten Weisen," p. 287, and others. Some poems in this collection are in spirit akin to the Östliche Rosen, e.g. "Becher und Wein," p. 291, "Der Traum," p. 283, and the "Vierzeilen," pp. 481, 482. Besides this, the γazal-form occurs repeatedly, e.g. "Frühlingshymne," p. 273. So fond does Rückert seem to have been of this form, that he employs it even for a poem on such an unoriental subject as Easter, p. 189 (2).

This collection is furthermore of interest from the biographical side, as often giving us Rückert's opinions. Thus we find evidence that he was by no means onesidedly prejudiced in favor of things Oriental. Referring to the myth of fifty-three million Apsarases having sprung from the sea,190 he states (p. 24), that if he were to be the judge, these fifty-three million nymphs bedecked with jewels would have to bow before the one Aphrodite in her naked glory. And again in "Rückkehr," p. 51, the poet confesses that having wandered to the East to forget his misery and finding thorns in the rose-gardens of Persia, and demons, misshapen gods and monkeys acting the parts of heroes in India, he is glad to return to the Iliad and Odyssey (cf. also "Zu den östlichen Rosen," p. 153).

Rückert was evidently aware of his tendency to overproduction. He offers an explanation in "Spruchartiges," p. 157:

And again to his own question, Musst du denn immer dichten?, p. 159, he answers:

Graf von Schack has aptly applied to Rückert's poems the famous sentence which a Spaniard pronounced about Lope de Vega, that no poet wrote so many good plays, but none also so many poor ones.191

Whatever defects it may have, Rückert's Oriental work is nevertheless indisputably of the greatest importance to German literature. More than any one else he brought over into it a new spirit and new forms; and it is due primarily to his unsurpassed technical skill that the German language is to-day the best medium for an acquaintance, not only with the literature of the West, but also with that of the East.

CHAPTER IX.